First, obviously, is that my cardio work - which used to consist of walking - has become training for races. Almost as important, though, is that I've been much more diligent about working out in general. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. First, when you're training for something specific - like a race - I find that works as good motivation to stay on track. And when I'm staying on track for that part of my workout I tend to stay on track with the rest of it. Also - and this was unexpected - as a result of my training I've been sleeping better making it easier for me to get up to workout.
Last week I added something new into the mix - yoga. I live in a lake community and there is a clubhouse by the lake where there is a yoga class every Sunday morning. I went last Sunday for the first time. I have to say I was surprised by two things about the class. First, even though this class is geared told fogies such as myself (I was on the youngish side of the students this week I think), I was surprised by what a good workout it is. Second, after the class my back was aching all week. I suffered severe back trauma about 13 years ago (I fell off of a horse) and have had to be careful with my back since. I go to the chiropractor regularly which helps, and I've remained injury free (if not pain free) for several years. This pain is not of the "I'm about to make your life miserable with crippling pain" variety, more along the lines of "Yo! You're working muscles you ain't never worked before!" variety. So that's a good thing. Still hurts though.
OK, so here's my new weekly schedule (again, not much different from what I have been doing for years aside from the race training). It all starts with what day I do my long run. I prefer Saturdays, but depending on weather I might do Sundays on occasion. Given that...
Saturday - long run
Sunday - yoga and weights
Monday - short run
Tuesday - Core workout and weights
Wednesday - Short run (plus there is a yoga class at my gym I might try to do)
Thursday - Core workout and weights
Friday - off
If I need to do my long run on Sunday instead then everything shifts by a day (although I keep Friday as my day off). During the week I use the weight machines at my gym (which is at my office), on weekends I use the universal machine in my basement.
And, of course, this week I did not go by this schedule. Here is what I did:
Sunday 2/17:
Core work 15 minutes, weights 20 minutes, yoga hour plus
Monday 2/18:
As it was a holiday I went longer than my usual short run. I ran 2 "laps" a round the lap. Usually I like to "kick in" on the flat sections when I am in a running interval, but during this run my back was stiff from yoga and this really prevented me from running as fast as I usually would - so I took it very easy. Here are the specifics:
Total time: 52:08
Distance: 3.56
Average pace: 14:39
Tuesday 2/19 - core work, weights at gym
Wednesday - 30 minutes treadmill, stretching
Thursday 2/21 - 30 minutes core & stretching, 20 minutes weights at gym
Like I wrote - I did not stick to what I decided to do as a schedule. The weather forecast was calling for what looked like pretty much constant rain and/or snow all weekend. So, I decided to do my long run on Friday and take Saturday off. Since I was going to drive my wife to the train and she needed to be there by 7:30, I had to start my run by 5:00. There was no rain or snow and the roads were dry... but it was also 22° F. At least there was no wind. The thing I hate most about running in the cold is after you start to sweat and your sweat gets cold. When I got home and took my cap off I saw that the sweat from my head had frozen and there was a layer of frost on my cap!
Here are the specifics:
Distance: 8.02
Time: 2:06:00
Pace: 15:42
I also should point out that Friday is my day to weigh in. Anyone who is working on losing weight knows (or should know) that you should weight yourself once a week on the same day at the same time. Here is my weight progress:
Change: -2.8 lbs.
Total change (2 weeks): -6 lbs
Distance from goal: 26.8 - 36.8 lbs
(I have not set a specific goal - more a range I want to end up in).
I should say I'm not sure how accurate that is - I did weigh myself right after the run which may have skewed it. So we'll see. I've set a sort of mini-goal for the Sleepy Hollow half marathon for which I would need to lose another 6.8 lbs in 4 weeks - do-able but I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't get there.
Speaking of the Sleepy Hollow half, as I mentioned in my last post I have been running a hilly course in my neighborhood in preparation. I had been wondering exactly how hilly the course is. Turns out that the iPhone running app I use - iRunner - keeps track of elevation. Below is an image from my Friday run. Each peak indicates one lap around the lake. The final two are shorter because I took a slightly shorter route for my last two laps to make sure I got back in time to take my wife to the train. And the final one ends short because I stopped the app at 8 miles - about 1/4 mile from my house. As you can see, each lap has a total elevation change of about 200 feet. Hopefully this will get me in shape for the hilly half marathon.
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| I don't know why it labeled the last mile as "9" - should be "8" |
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